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Metalworking Techniques
Image: Coin with a Head of Arethousa and a Quadriga, before 405 B.C., minted in Syracuse. Tetradrachm signed by Kimon, silver. Royal Library of Belgium Coin Cabinet. Image Royal Library of Belgium, Coin Cabinet, du Chastel coll., nr. 112. VEX.2013.1.145
Coin dies were hand-cut by skilled die engravers; the Greek word for this discipline is unknown but the Latin speakers of Italy referred to these artists as caelators. The artistic discipline is very similar to that of gem engraving, particularly since engraved gemstones were prominently used as signature seals in ancient times. It is likely that the best caelators also moonlighted as gem engravers and jewelry makers. Bronze dies were usually cut with a special set of tools and were case hardened by heating the metal and letting it cool slowly. Annealing, the process of heating copper alloy to red hot and quenching it quickly in water, results in a very soft metal surface; this was likely done before engraving commenced. Syracusan die engravers also used iron dies, which often became rusty and left traces on the coins struck from them. Ancient die faces would have looked similar to the ones pictured below, although the outer matrix would likely not have been as precisely cylindrical. The amount of force needed to strike a coin, and the amount of heating required for the planchet, depended greatly on the metal being used and the size of the coin being struck. Gold was a relatively soft metal and since gold coins were typically small, they could be struck cold with only moderate force. Silver coins of tetradrachm size (about the diameter of a modern U.S. quarter, but much thicker) would have required some heating or annealing of the planchet, and a strong blow from a heavy sledgehammer. Copper and bronze pieces, particularly the large bronze litra coins produced by Syracuse in the fourth century B.C., required planchets to be heated to red-hot, and one or more blows from a large, two-handed sledgehammer to get a satisfactory result. Clearly this was an operation involving up to three menone to place the planchet, one to center the die, and another to swing the hammer. The interior of an ancient mint was likely a hot, smoky and stuffy place, with furnaces and forges constantly in full flame. Ancient mints were likely heavily fortified structures, constantly guarded to protect the precious metals and even more precious minting implements stored within. If a set of official dies ever escaped the confines of the mint, counterfeiters could wreak havoc within the local economy.
A set of modern dies modeled after ancient Greek coin designs.
THE DEMARETION: PRELUDE TO GREATNESS In circa 467 B.C., Syracuse quite suddenly produced an extraordinary coin of enormous size and outstanding artistry, the Demareteion decadrachm, weighing 43 grams and valued at 10 silver drachms or two and a half tetradrachms. The name comes from Demarete, wife of the Syracusan tyrant Gelon, who after the battle of Himera in 480 B.C. is said to have intervened on behalf of the defeated Carthaginians and received a huge stipend from them. The historian Diodorus claims she used this windfall to strike a coin called a Demareteion,
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Silver Tetradrachm with a female charioteer and facing, helmeted head of Athena, before 405 B.C., dies signed by Eukleidas. Royal Library of Belgium, Coin Cabinet, de Hirsch coll., nr 605. VEX.2013.1.149
This only set the stage for the two most famous engravers of Syracuse, Kimon, and Euianetos, who appear on the scene around 405 B.C. Kimon made his initial statement with an incredible front-facing head on a tetradrachm that, for the first time, depicted Arethousa on the obverse side of the coin (seen on the cover of this brochure). The reverse was also a tour de force, showing the four horses straining at the reigns in a variety of attitudes suggesting vigorous action. THE DECADRACHMS Also commencing circa 405 B.C. were the series of silver decadrachms by Kimon and Euainetos, of the same size as the Demareteion pieces but of a more Classical style. These large coins were struck in enormous numbers, probably to pay the Greek mercenary soldiers who now flooded Sicily to fight the expanding power of Carthage. The decadrachm era of Kimon and Euianetos, circa 405-390 B.C., coincided with a time of upheaval in Sicily that saw Syracuse eclipsed as the main power on the island. Carthage began a slow and fitful conquest of Sicily that eventually drew most other cities under its power and left Syracuse in control only of its immediate hinterland. The constant warfare placed great stress on Syracuses finances and coin production suffered accordingly. Many Sicilian die engravers seem to have left Greek employ and gone to work for the Carthaginians, who produced a lovely series of coins now called Siculo-Punic. The artistic quality of Syracuses coins remained high, but the style became repetitive and never again approached the heights achieved by the Master Engravers of the late fifth century B.C.